Anxiety is the feeling of worry, apprehension or dread that something bad is going to happen or that you can’t cope with a situation. It’s also the physical reactions that go with the feeling, such as ‘butterflies in the stomach’, tension, shakiness, nausea and sweatiness. And it’s behaviour such as avoiding who or what is causing the anxiety or wanting a lot of reassurance. 

Anxiety can happen in response to a specific situation or event, but it continues after the situation has passed. It can happen without a specific situation or event too. 

Anxiety is a common and natural part of life. Everyone feels anxious sometimes, but some of us feel it more regularly or acutely than others.  

There are different feelings you might have when you’re anxious. For example, you might: 

• feel your heart beating really fast 

• feel scared, worried or tense 

• feel fidgety or shaky 

• feel sick or get a funny feeling in your stomach 

• struggle to think about other things 

• have a panic attack 

• feel as if you’re always worrying or having negative thoughts 

• feel yourself getting angry or irritable and being out of control during outbursts 

• feel tense and fidgety 

You might also find it hard to concentrate; have difficulty sleeping or wake in the night with bad dreams  

Anxiety feels different for everyone, so you might feel something completely different. Plus, different things make different people feel anxious. It’s also normal to have times when you feel more and less anxious.  

Some things that might make you feel anxious include: 

• schoolwork and exams 

• meeting new people 

• having a messy room 

• having too much caffeine 

• speaking in front of others 

• not getting enough sleep 

• seeing upsetting things in the news 

• big changes happening in your life 

We all have different ways of making ourselves feel better – what works for one person may not work for another. The good news is that there are lots of ways of coping with anxiety:  

• Practise positive self-talk – for example, ‘I can handle this, I’ve been in situations like this before 

• Practise self-compassion – for example, ‘It’s okay if I do this differently from other people, this way works for me’ 

• Practise assertiveness – for example, ‘I need some help with this project 

• Focus on your breathing to calm down panicky feelings 

• Set small goals for managing things you feel anxious about to boost your confidence that you can handle the situation. Avoiding situations that make you anxious can actually make it harder to cope in the future 

Talking about your worries and anxiety can make a big difference to how you feel. It can help you to see things differently, feel less alone and make it easier to cope. 

You could try talking to an adult you feel safe with, a trusted friend or Childline. We’re always available if you want to chat about anything that’s going on in your life. 

Changing how you think about yourself or a situation can help you see things differently. It can take time and practise to spot when your thoughts might be making you feel anxious, but there are small things you can try every day: 

1. Avoid focusing on what you “should” do: Thinking things like, “I should be doing more homework” or “I should be better at this” can have a big impact on how you feel about yourself. Try to catch yourself when you’re thinking about what you should do and come up with other ways of thinking about it. For example, you could think “I want to do more homework, but I’m already doing as much as I can” 

2. Focus on the positive: It’s often easy to focus on the bad things you’ve done more than the good. Try to think of one or two things each day that you’re proud of or thankful for. You could write about them in a journal or collect them on bits of paper in a jar. Try to look back at what you’ve written after a few days. 

3. Remind yourself that things can get better or change: When something goes wrong, it can feel like you’ll never get better or that you’ll always be anxious. Try to remind yourself of times that you haven’t been anxious or make a list of things that might help you to feel more confident next time.